Bajaj Auto top pick in auto space

Bajaj Auto top pick in auto space, says Amit Dalal, Executive Director, Tata Investment Corporation.

Dalal told CNBC-TV18, “In auto space Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda has done exceedingly well. To a large extent we do have confidence in the consumer play continuing in India. It’s apparent also in the FMCG products so it is either of the two. I think both of them have their own strengths.”

He further added, “Bajaj Auto is right now no doubt the leader and it has got a huge export potential. I think baring any major drop in demand because of the increase in petrol which he is very worried about, Mr Bajaj I would say Bajaj still remains the favorite for the market.”

RDB Rasayans IPO to open on Sep 21

Packaging material manufacturer RDB Rasayans is entering capital market with a public issue of 45 lakh equity shares on September 21 and has fixed a price band for the issue at Rs 72-79 per equity share.

The company aims to raise around Rs 32.4-35.55 crore through the issue, which will close on September 23. 

The issue would constitute 25.40% of the fully diluted post issue paid up capital of the company, RDB Rasayans said in a statement.

The company proposes to utilise the net proceeds of the issue to finance the capital expenditure to enhance its production facilities, and meeting general corporate purposes. 

Chartered Capital And Investment Limited is the sole book running lead manager for the issue. 

RDB Rasayans is engaged in the manufacturing of packaging material such as PP Tape, PP woven sacks, woven fabrics, industrial woven fabric, PP woven fabrics and PP woven bags.

FDI in services jumps 3-fold during April-June

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India's services sector tripled to USD 2.19 billion (Rs 9,802 crore) during the first quarter of the current fiscal, according to the industry ministry's data.

The financial and non-financial services sector had attracted FDI worth USD 695 million (Rs 3,149 crore) during the same period of 2010-11.

According to experts, uncertain economic conditions in western markets are creating opportunities in emerging economies like India.

"Foreign investors are looking at India as western markets are reeling under debt crisis," an economist said.

Overall FDI inflows during April-June 2011-12 jumped by 133% to USD 13.44 billion from USD 5.77 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry had said that it appears that the recent trend of dip in FDI inflows have been reversed in the current financial year.

Services sector contributes over 50% to India's economy.

Despite increase in FDI in services sector, drugs and pharmaceutical segment attracted maximum investment worth USD 2.99 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal.

Telecommunication was the third best sector which attracted USD 1.21 billion investment, followed by power (USD 859 million), computer software and hardware (USD 703 million) and automobile (USD 436 million).

During the period, the highest FDI of USD 4.52 billion came from the Mauritius, followed by Singapore (USD 2.67 billion), the UK (USD 2.47 billion) and Germany (USD 1.25 billion).

Dhanlaxmi Bank raises rates by 25-50 bps

Private sector lender Dhanlaxmi Bank hiked its base rate and benchmark prime lending rates or BPLR by 25 and 50 basis points to 10.75% and 20.25% respectively, with effect from September 19. Last Friday, the Reserve Bank of India had increased its repo rate by 25 bps. Dhanlaxmi became the first bank to transmit such rate hike.

“The hike in our base rate and BPLR follows the recent interest rate hike by RBI and reflects the tight monetary conditions,” Bipin Kabra, CFO, Dhanlaxmi Bank said in a release.

Early last month, the bank had revised its base rate and BPLR by 50 and 100 basis points respectively to 10.75% p.a. and 20.25% p.a.

While some big lenders including Bank of Baroda , State Bank of India , HDFC are reportedly averse of hiking rates immediately, small lenders like Bank of Maharashtra(BoM) and others are likely to raise rates soon.

Nifty remains under pressure

Fall in metal, banking, FMCG, capital goods and power stocks weighed on the market on first day of the week. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 16,837, down 97 points and the 50-share NSE Niftydropped 29 points to 5,055 amid volatility. ONGC too slipped into the red on the back profit booking (down nearly 1%).

Asian markets too extended their losses; Hang Seng was down 1.5% and Shanghai fell 2.5%. Straits Times, Kospi and Taiwan were down around 1%. On the home turf, the Indian rupee depreciated to 47.75 per dollar, down 0.43.

Reliance Infrastructure, L&T, DLF, Sterlite Industries, ICICI Bank and Cipla were top losers among largecaps; these stocks fell between 2% and 3%.

However, GAIL, Ranbaxy Labs, IDFC, ACC, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors gained 0.5-1.8%.

India Securities, SBI, Tata Motors, Everonn Education, Lovable Lingerie, Reliance Industries, L&T and Infosys were most active shares on exchanges.

In the midcap space, Alfa Laval shot up 15% as company will discuss about delisting in the meeting today.

Honeywell Automation, Sun Pharma Advanced, Fortis Health and ILandFS Transportation gained 4-6% while KGN Industries, Dish TV India, Simplex Infra, Puravankara Projects and Coromandel International lost 2-5%.

About 678 shares advanced as against 652 shares declined on National Stock Exchange.